Near miss: Manhunt for fleeing suspect enters second day
By John Joyce and Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 28, 2017 9:07 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Goldsboro Police Capt. Paige Learnard and members of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office coordinate efforts Monday in the search for a fleeing suspect who is potentially armed.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Wayne County Sheriff Larry Pierce is updated at the scene where the gunman wrecked and then ditched the car he was driving. The car is registered to a man reported missing out of Raleigh earlier this month. Officials do not yet know whether the suspect and the missing man are connected, or perhaps one and the same.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office's helicopter unit circled over the Rosewood community most of Monday night and SWAT was standing by as a manhunt got underway for a potentially armed suspect.
The search entered its second day today after officials closed in on the suspect late Monday night, but he again slipped through their grasp.
Maj. Tom Effler advised area residents to be careful, but said there was no imminent danger to the community.
"We want (residents) to be cautious," he said. "We have someone on the loose, and we don't know what he is capable of."
Effler said a resident in the Claridge Nursery Road area spotted the suspect and called it in at about 10 p.m.
Deputies were on the scene within three minutes and saw footprints. They might have even heard him running through the woods, but they could not find the man.
He is thought to be armed with a handgun, Effler said.
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The search began after the Goldsboro Police Department responded to a report of a shooting at the Speedway at 1501 U.S. 70 West Tuesday at 12:26 p.m.
A police report said Demetrius Terrell Epps, 27, was meeting a man to buy some shoes.
The report said the man then tried to rob Epps at gunpoint.
He fired a single shot at Epps and then fled the scene, the report said.
Capt. Paige Learnard said no one was injured in that incident, but a vehicle description of a red Ford Taurus and a license plate were obtained.
The vehicle came back registered to a man reported missing out of Raleigh on March 19.
Justice Courtney Lyons,22, was reported missing by his mother, Effler said.
Lyons was last seen in the Goldsboro area March 14, but neither the sheriff's office nor Goldsboro police knew exactly where he had been last seen prior to the missing persons report being filed.
Other than the shooting suspect driving Lyon's car, there was no available information connecting him to Lyon's disappearance.
"The car is the connection," Effler said.
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Following the shooting incident, at 3:12 p.m., a suspicious person matching the suspect's description ---- a 5-foot-9-inch tall black man with close cut hair or bald, in his 20s wearing blue jeans and a dirty, white T-shirt ---- was called in to deputies in the Green Valley area.
At 4:39 p.m., deputies spotted the suspect's vehicle, but no one was visible in the immediate area.
Effler said the deputies "set up" on the vehicle to watch and see if the suspect came back. In about half an hour, he did.
Deputies moved in, but the suspect tried to drive off. He wrecked the vehicle in a stand of trees atop a hill off of U.S. 70 West near the McDonald's.
The suspect then fled on foot and has not been seen since.
Effler said police recovered the man's jacket, shirt and hat during the manhunt.
Learnard said police officers also got an item of evidence at the scene of the shooting, but it has not yet been determined whether that item ---- she could not specify further what it is ---- is connected to today's shooting or an earlier incident.
Effler said Lyons did have acquaintances in the area, but Raleigh police are running the missing persons investigation.
Lyons is described as having long dreadlocks, but law enforcement is considering the possibility that he could have changed his appearance.
"It could be the missing person who just shaved their head, but we don't know right now," Effler said.
Goldsboro police are investigating the shooting incident and assisting the sheriff's office with the manhunt.
During the early stages of the search, neighborhood residents were milling about in front of their homes.
Kathryn Peoples and Shannon Fulghum share a residence nearby.
"I just heard a big crash and ran out," Peoples said.
She saw blue lights and ran back in to wake Fulghum.
Fulghum came out of the house to see sheriff's deputies advancing on the car.
"I saw police drawing their guns and going toward the car," she said. "And there was nobody there."
The women said a K-9 unit was brought in and police searched around their house and their neighbor's homes, even under the houses, but no one was found.
"It's kind of scary," Fulghum said. "They said the guy is around and dangerous."
Peoples agreed.
"What's scary is they haven't found him yet."
Editors note ---- This is an update to a previous story. Added are the description of Lyons and the overnight near capture of the suspect who remains at large at the time of this report.